


in all my dreams i drown

by writingdice



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Child Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-13 04:58:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16886058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingdice/pseuds/writingdice
Summary: Thalassophobia; is an intense and persistent fear of the sea. Thalassophobia can include fear of being in large bodies of water, fear of the vast emptiness of the sea, and fear of distance from land.Thalassophobes may also be afraid of encountering sea creatures rather than the sea itself.





	in all my dreams i drown

They had been kids when it happened.

The twins had spent the whole day playing on the beach, it was near dinner time when Stanley dared him to a swimming race on the sea. Ford had refused at first, telling him that Ma would not be happy if they arrived home all wet and covered in sand, but Stan was stubborn, and in the end Ford had reluctantly accepted the challenge.

At first it had been like any other race they had done before, but then the waves started to get violent and rough. Stanford had screamed at his brother that he didn’t want to race anymore and that they should head back to the shore. 

Stan had been too far away. He had turned to look at him with a smile on his lips, ready to tease him, when a particularly big wave came behind him, violently submerging him while Ford screamed for Stan.

Ford was looking frantically for him, waiting for him to re-surface, while struggling to keep himself from getting submerged by the waves. Between spitting out saltwater he kept screaming his name.

Stanley had come back up, coughing and weakly calling out his name. He had been pulled by the waves even more far away from him.

“Stan! Stan, wait there, I’ll come get ya!”, Ford had screamed with relief and panic, he had started to swim towards him but the currents had been stronger, entangling on his legs and pulling him away from his twin.

Stan tried to get close to him but wave after wave came crashing down on him. Ford started screaming in fear and panic, a few sobs escaping him as he kept trying to swim to save his twin. 

His screaming catched the attention of a few people who were passing by the beach. A woman called an ambulance from a payphone while the others sent to help him and his brother. One of them saved Ford and took him back to the shore safely.

Stanford, sobbing and weak, kept trying to go back to the sea. Calling out for his brother as he was held by the people who had helped him. 

The ambulance arrived and the paramedics started to check him, they asked a lot of questions but he didn’t answer them, he kept his eyes on the sea, waiting for his brother to be rescued.

A man came out, holding his brother and setting him down on the sand. The paramedics immediately started to resucitate him….

But it had been too late.

* * *

Stanford never set foot on the beach again. 

He left presents and flowers on the sidewalk near it, as a way to tell his brother that he had not forgotten about him and that as long as he lived, he never would.

* * *

As he grew up, sometimes he dreamed of his brother and it was always the same dream.

He walked on the water of a deep, dark, turbulent ocean, and as he gazed down he saw his brother looking back at him. His eyes glowed with an enticing light.

Stanley would give him that wide tooth gapped smile and hold out his hands at him, beckoning him to take them.

“Ford”, Stan would call with a muffled yet soft voice.

“Ford, come play with me”, and he wanted to, he wanted to.

“Stay with me, don’t leave me alone again”, and Stan’s expression would turn so sad and so vulnerable, and Ford would try to take his hands, because he didn’t want Stan to feel alone.

“Please… don’t leave me here…”, Ford would cry out weakly as his twin started to sink down on the dark. Looking at him with glowing eyes full of sadness. His mouth forming the word “please” over and over again but Stanford could not hear his voice.

And then he would wake up.

* * *

When he went to West Coast Tech, he had felt happy and proud of himself, yes, but he had also felt  _relieved_ that itwas located far away from the sea. He was more than happy to stay indoors and work away on new projects.

Some of his peers tried to coax him to come to a beach party one summer. He had blatantly refused and continued to work and study on. Ever since that day a lot of them had taken into calling him names behind his back, but he did not care for them or what they had to say about him.

He was more afraid of the sea and what may lurk beneath its waves.

* * *

When he started to work and live in Gravity Falls the dreams became intense, and sometimes Ford found himself not being able to tell when he was dreaming and when he was awake.

His dreams started to change.

Stanley’s eyes became pure light, his wide tooth gapped smile that had once been a comfort became something that haunted him and caused chills run down his spine. But his words stayed the same. 

Always caling out his name and begging for him to stay and play with him. But Stanford was twenty-eight years old, and the promises of being able to play with his dead brother again did not sound as enticing as when he had been a child, and so he would refuse. He would walk away, looking for the shore, as Stan would start screaming and begging him to stay, to not walk away.

Stanley’s expression would turn sadder and sadder the more he refused him.

* * *

One time, he had been near the Lake to study some of its creatures, (not near enough that he would actually be able to see them clearly, he was too afraid of falling in the lake). 

Stanford had been sitting, sketching and writing about his findings, when he heard something moving in the water.

With a gasp he stood up and moved farther away. On the surface of the lake, his brother was peeking out at him from the water. What appeared to be tears were leaking out from his eyes and his hands were stretched out for him.

“Stanford…”, he gurgled as more water came out of his mouth.

He ran away and didn’t look back. He only felt safe when he was back at home with all doors locked and the windows tightly shut.

* * *

It was a stormy night when it happened again.

The thunders echoed in the forest and Ford was laying down on his bed, thinking about what he had saw in the cave… He hadn’t said the words outloud, choosing instead to go back home and think if this is really what he wanted to do.

Would it be wise to summon an ancient creature for the sake of his research?

Ford was caught up in his thoughts when he heard a knock on the door. His blood froze and his heart started to pump faster. Who could possibly be outside in this weather and at night?

Another knock came after a few minutes.

And then another, and another, and another.

It was clear that whomever was outside his house was stubborn, and would not go until they had talked with him. But Ford could be just as stubborn and he was not going to open his door for a stranger at midnight.

The knocks kept going for at least ten minutes, and just as suddenly as they arrived, they left.

Ford closed his eyes, decided to get some sleep and think about his predicament in the morning.

It was later, much later when he woke up to the sound of footsteps inside his room. They were soft and slow, and they sounded… wet. On his wall he saw a familiar small shadow moving inside his room. He closed his eyes again and did his best to pretend to be sleeping.

He kept saying the same mantra inside his head.

“This is not real.  _YOU_  are not  _HERE_. This is not Glass Shard Beach. You are not here.”

It stopped beside his bed. He heard elaborated breaths and felt drops of water falling on his face, his eyes remained closed tightly as he tried not to panic as a small, wet hand caressed his face and hair gently.

“Don’t let him inside your mind”, was all that he heard and then the apparition was gone.

Ford sat up in the morning, trying to convince himself that it had only been a nightmare… He kept trying even after cleaning up the small puddles on his room and house.

He didn’t summon the creature who could have helped him with his research.

* * *

Instead, Stanford looked for answers on how to help his brother.

He read about all kinds of ghosts and spirits that couldn’t rest in peace, hoping that in one of those books he could find how to make Stanley… go.

He found something that fitted his situation on literature and folklore about Rusalkas, but most of it didn’t fit the patterns of what… who he was dealing with.

Stanley had never hurt him or tried to drown him. He just seemed to want to be with his brother.

But Stanford was afraid, and so, for long years he stayed inside his house, researching and looking for answers.

* * *

His house reeked of humidity.

The animals and magical creatures of Gravity Falls would sniff at him and run the other way.

Ford was forty years old and he still had nightmares of his brother, calling out his name from down below the waves as toys and flowers sank down below him, and his small hands reached out for him, begging him to stay.

Ford was not sure how long he could refuse his little brother.

* * *

As he was doing some grocery shopping one day, he heard from a couple of gossiping women that old toys and dead flowers had been found on the shore of the lake.

The children of Gravity Falls had taken onto leaving their own toys and drawings on the peer, all addressed to Stanley.

* * *

One night, after a couple of drinks, he walked out to the lake and sat down near the shore. He stayed there for a very long time. Ford gathered up his courage and called out in a whisper…

“Stanley?”

And small glowing eyes opened in the water at the center of the lake. Stan’s small head surfaced and looked at him with curiosity.

Ford started to shake badly as he saw his long dead twin. A sob escaped him and he completely broke down. Through his tears he saw Stanley’s panicked expression.

“…Sixer, are you okay? Did someone hurt you?”, he asked as he swam nearer but didn’t get too close to the shore. The nickname made him cry harder because it had been a long time since he had last heard it.

“Ford?”

“…Why are you still here, Stanley?”, he asked, heart broken at the confused and doubtful look on his twin.

“What… do you mean?”

“I mean… what keeps you here? How can I help you… rest… in peace?”, Stanley looked down and held out his hands to him. Ford backed up away and Stan dropped his hands back to the water.

“N-no! Please, Ford, don’t leave! Please, I’m sorry, I-I… I didn’t want you to be alone… a-and I…”, his glowing eyes dimmed a little and he stared to tear up. He started to cough out water as his distress increased and his cries became too much for him.

Stanford walked into the water and held his brother.

“It’s okay, Stanley. I’m here and I won’t leave you to sink again”

Stanley smiled against his chest as his small arms went around his waist. His glowing eyes looked at him as the dark closed around him.

* * *

When he woke up he was alone and surrounded by toys and flowers. 

Stanley Pines was finally at peace.


End file.
